An inquiry into being curious

Curious is one of the eight professional behaviours that make up the CIPD HR profession map. These behaviours set out how best HR practice is demonstrated when professionals carry out the activities and use HR knowledge to affect business outcomes.The behaviours are an important part of the framework as they describe in detail how professionals need to go about their job to be credible and effective. The map defines “curious” as: “Shows active interest in the internal and external environment and in the continuous development and improvement of self and others at both organisation and individual levels. Is open-minded with a bias and willingness to learn and enquire.”So what does that mean in practice? What curious is describing is a need to look beyond your own role, team and department to the broader issues affecting your organisation. Monitoring your environment is essential to keep up to date with ever-changing demands on customers and how these variations affect your business.